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At 10:16 am on Thursday, Oct. 16, nearly 65,500 school children in thousands of classrooms across Arizona, will “Drop, Cover, and Hold On” as part of the Great Arizona Shakeout earthquake preparedness drill. They will be joined by tens of thousands more people in universities, state and federal offices, tribal communities, health facilities, civic groups, and businesses.
Each year, hundreds of earthquakes occur in Arizona. Most go unfelt, but the potential for rare, life-threatening, large magnitude earthquakes exists. On June 28, 2014, a magnitude 5.3 earthquake rocked southern Arizona from Duncan, near the epicenter on the Arizona-New Mexico border, to Phoenix. Faults in Arizona, surrounding states and Mexico are capable of producing earthquakes up to magnitude 7.5 that could cause strong and damaging ground shaking across the state.
During an earthquake the greatest immediate danger in most homes and buildings is from flying or falling items such as ceiling tiles, furniture, pictures, lights, mirrors and ceiling fans. Lessons learned from the 2-minute ShakeOut “Drop, Cover and Hold On” exercise can protect you, your family and others from serious injury.
ShakeOut drills inform people at school, work and home how to prepare for and survive the next damaging earthquake. It’s easy to participate. At 10:16 a.m. on Oct. 16, all Arizonans are asked to:
ü Drop to the ground;
ü Take Cover under a sturdy table or desk if possible and protect your head and neck;
ü Hold On until the shaking stops.
“It’s not easy to motivate people to prepare for any disaster,” said Wendy Smith-Reeve, Director of the Arizona Division of Emergency Management, “but the Great ShakeOut has the advantage of being a low risk, high reward opportunity for people to improve personal preparedness. I encourage all Arizonans to set aside two minutes to drop, take cover and hold on for ShakeOut.”
Participating in ShakeOut is free and open to the public. You, your family, or school can enroll in the Great Arizona ShakeOut online at www.shakeout.org/arizona/ . Once registered, you will receive information on how to plan your drill and engage the Whole Community.
Arizona joins California, Nevada, Oregon, and 27 other states that host ShakeOut events on October 16, 2014. Worldwide, more than 16 million people will engage in ShakeOut, most of those in the U.S.
For additional information on preparing for, responding to and recovering from an earthquake, read “Arizona is Earthquake Country,” a 44-page online publication that includes a detailed seven-step earthquake safety guide.
Partners in the Great Arizona Shakeout 2014 include the Arizona Geological Survey, Arizona Division of Emergency Management, local emergency management offices, the American Red Cross, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Enroll today in Arizona ShakeOut for a safer Arizona tomorrow. Information is available for the public and media at http://www.shakeout.org/arizona/.
There are news or informational items frequently written by staff or submitted to the Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner, Superior Sun, Pinal Nugget or Oracle Towne Crier for inclusion in our print or digital products. These items are not credited with an author.
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